Sheltie's barking

I have ab 8 year old sheltie. Lately he seems to be barking all the time. He is driving us nuts. How do I get him to stop! He is a great dog, if it wasn't for the barking. He has not been nutered. Could that be the answer to my problem? I would never get rid of him, but this barking has to stop......If anyone could help, I would apprecite it....

Ah.. barking. Kai and Kae love to have conversations between each other. Kaedyn seems to bark at the wind too.

Neutering probably won't stop it (but if you think he's healthy enough to go through the procedure, neutering may prevent other problems).

It could be because he's bored, which could easily be solved by some mind games or physical exercise.

My boys get plenty of mental stimulation so I know they're not bored.. they just like barking for the heck of it. They're Shelties afterall. In the house, I get Kaedyn to stop by shaking a can full of rocks. It worked like a charm. Outside though, the only thing that works (so far) is water. The can used to work until he pretty much got desensitized to it outside.

Originally posted by binka_nugget Ah.. barking. Kai and Kae love to have conversations between each other. Kaedyn seems to bark at the wind too.

Neutering probably won't stop it (but if you think he's healthy enough to go through the procedure, neutering may prevent other problems).

It could be because he's bored, which could easily be solved by some mind games or physical exercise.

My boys get plenty of mental stimulation so I know they're not bored.. they just like barking for the heck of it. They're Shelties afterall. In the house, I get Kaedyn to stop by shaking a can full of rocks. It worked like a charm. Outside though, the only thing that works (so far) is water. The can used to work until he pretty much got desensitized to it outside.

when he barks ,go where he is with a spray bottle and spray him in the face.

Originally posted by binka_nugget LOL Yup! I had to dig out the water gun.

LOL!

Shelties can be noisy dogs. Perhaps he needs more physcial and metal stimulation. How often do you walk him? A one-hour walk/run a day should tire him out and he won't bark as much. Neutering him should help. An unaltered male can be very sexually frustrated and that can create bad behaviours such as barking. I would neuter him right away.

I am calling for an appointment tomorrow. I hope that will help. So behavior modification,ie; water gun, shaking rocks in a bag. Ok. Any other ideas. I have all tile floors, the water gun might be a bit dangerous with 5 kids in the house. Oh yeah, that's the other with 5 teenagers and a lot of visitors this dog goes nuts. I have the kids pick him up or pet him. Yelling at him to stop barking is not the solution.
Separtate question:
What is the life span of shelties. I hope Sheldon is around a long time, just wondering if we should invest in another sheltie as a companion for Sheldon. What do you all think?

He's not even approaching old age, I know Shelties who have lived to 14 and 17 respectively! You are going to have to be completely consistent - everyone in the house will - to try behavior modification. Gracious, he's got 5 kids to herd, mom!

I would say neuter him also. Adding another Sheltie will either keep him occupied so he won't want to bark, or you'll end up with two barkers. If you do choose to get another one, everyone needs to be spayed/neutered or you'll end up with fighting instead of barking. You can try the squirt bottle, but some dogs like that. My grandmother had a sheltie and when she would water the yard she would give him a squirt with the hose for fun. He would bark while getting wet, then run around the yard and pull up chunks of grass. Being a kid at the time that was the most hilarious thing to watch, but the yard suffered and the water made him bark so I guess it depends on the dog if the water is a barking deterant.

First of all, I would go ahead with getting him neutered. Only because it is healthier for him. I don't believe it will cut down on the barking any.

Second of all.....does your sheltie like food? That may seem like a silly question, but I have heard of the odd picky sheltie out there. I don't know if they are urban legend or not though....LOL

This is how I would go about training your sheltie to stop barking, especially if you want to avoid the water route (never worked with my shelties, they would just run out of range and keep barking....LOL). Get your dog's absolute most favorite treats and keep them with you all the time. When something sets the dog off, grab the treats walk up to your dog and put a treat right in front of his nose. This will distract him and you can give him what will be his command (ie Quiet, Shush, No Bark, Enough......etc) lead him away a few steps (to remove him from the situation) and then give him the treat.
What you are doing is creating a conditioned reinforcer where the word = food. This won't prevent your dog from barking, but it will allow you to get control. The only thing that will prevent your dog from barking is to remove any and all stimuli in the environment and well that's impossible.
You can also strengthen the word you use by taking your dog into a quiet room and just saying the word and giving a treat. The dog doesn't have to be barking in order to do this.

Your end goal is to be able to give the command when he is in full bark mode and have him come running to you for his treat.

I hope I explained that properly. Let me know if there's any part you don't understand and I'll try to clarify.

Jake wasn't as big a barker as I hear most shelties are, but sometimes he did seem to love the sound of his own voice. Generally, when he was barking, I would re-locate him. Like - if he was outdoors barking, I would bring him inside and vice versa. I think he learned that barking meant "I want to go out." or "I want to come in," so he really didn't bark unless he wanted to be relocated. KWIM?